Bates book close to its last chapter
IT took Tolstoy six years to write War and Peace but former Chelsea and Leeds owner Ken Bates has been working on his autobiography since before the turn of the century.
Now at last there is some hope the book, which has been ghosted over the last 17 years by Bates’s wife Susannah with the help of a number of journalists, will finally be published in 2016.
The reason for the latest of numerous setbacks has been Susannah’s poor health over the past two years. But she is now well enough to complete the epic work, although a publisher has still to be found and there are sure to be legal hurdles to overcome given the controversial nature of Bates’ 50 years in football.
Monaco-based Bates, who will be 84 next week, is celebrating his football half- century with a party on December 13 in Chelsea Harbour to which his last Stamford Bridge manager, Claudio Ranieri, has been invited.
However Ranieri’s remarkable success with Leicester this season has seen their match against Chelsea switched for TV purposes to the day after Bates’ bash, so the Italian is likely to be too busy preparing his side to attend. NORTHWICH VICTORIA, the Evo-Stik First Division North leaders, go to Northampton a week today for their FA Cup second-round tie as the lowest-ranked side in the tournament. In contrast, 1874 Northwich, the supporter-run breakaway club formed by disgruntled fans in 2012, had to withdraw from the FA Vase in midweek having been unable to raise a side to travel to Northumberland to play Morpeth. HAVING a torrid time advising the ECB during the Kevin Pietersen affair hasn’t put off top communications company Hanover from setting up a dedicated sports division. It will be run by Claire Furlong, who made her reputation at UK athletics, and the initial clients are the ECB and the NFL. BBC Sport certainly indulge cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew (right). Having missed the Test series against Pakistan after taking his wife Emma on an extended holiday to Argentina, he turned up in the UAE for the one-day series but hasn’t stayed for the T20s. A BBC spokesman said: ‘Jonathan Agnew covers cricket for BBC all year round and will continue to do so in a very busy 2016.’ THE perceived wisdom regarding the managerial merry- go- round next summer is Pep Guardiola going to Manchester City and Carlo Ancelotti taking his place at Bayern Munich. But it is worth noting that with Louis van Gaal under siege for his boring tactics at Old Trafford, the one club which Ancelotti would really like to manage after his year’s break from football is Manchester United. THE race for the FIFA presidency has a long way to run until February 26. But a sign that Kuwait’s Sheik Salman Al Khalifa is the clear favourite is all the talk within the Asian Football Confederation about who will succeed him as AFC president. Malaysia’s Prince Abdullah is the name most mentioned but rising forces Japan and China could field candidates in an election. Meanwhile, the alliance between Sheik Salman and Bahrain’s Sheik Ahmad, the powerbroker behind Thomas Bach becoming IOC president, is understood not to be as strong as widely believed.